2/01/2005

On a cold monday morning in Japan in 2005, I learned the expression "ZEN-ish".
I had previously call it * McZen *, like the brother of McDonald, ready for easy consumption by Westerners.

Students (real deshi) of the Zendoo in Kamakura would sit around at the McDonald ｓhop at the station and complain about the harsh treatment without coffee during breaks at a sesshin !
Aaa, the poor souls, loking for ZEN in the coffe pot !
And jet, maybe they found a coffe haiku

This morning, the minus temperatures make me think of the monks at Eihei-Ji, the great Zen training temple in the cold mountains of Gifu, where the beginners have to stand at the gate for three nights, barefeet with straw sandals, no food and wait for an elder to let them in.
And that is just the beginning of a long career-training in enduring hardships. If you look carefully, you can see them standing in front of the gate of the above photo, the little black dots in the white snow.
You need a lot of ZEN mind to go through this.

Eiheiji, the "temple of eternal peace" is one of Soto Zen's two head temples.It is located deep in the mountains near the rugged west coast of Japan, not far from Fukui City. Dogen zenji, the founder of Eiheiji, was born in 1200 A.D. When he was 24, he went to China and devoted himself to true Zen practice under the strict guidance of Nyojo zenji at Mt. tendo. After having "dropped off both body and mind, "realizing the way of the Buddha, he returned home in 1228. He lived at Kenninji temple for 3 yers, then founded his first temple, Kosho-Horinji, in Uji, Kyoto.

In 1244 Dogen zenji and his followers visited Shii-no-sho in Echizen (now Fukui prefecture) to build a mountain temple. He was offered land and other help for this by Yoshisige Hatano, a samurai who was one of his most devoted lay followers. Dogen thus founded Eiheiji, where he devoted himself to training his followers in the perfection of Zen practice in every action of daily life. He died on September 29, 1253, leaving a number of noted books including the Shobogenzo, Gakudo Yojinshu, and Eihei Dai Shingi.

Dogen zenji's authentic Zen has been scrupulously observed by his succeessors. Even today, both priests and lay people devote themselves to his practice of Shikan-taza ("just sitting").

In memory of the 750th anniversary of the
death of Dogen Zenji 道元禅師（こうそどうげんぜんじ）

Dogen Zenji tells a message of "Fuse (offering)" to us who are living now. You might think that "Fuse (offering)" means money offered to priests. However, "Fuse" does not only mean money

For example, if you save resources on the earth to protect the environment and live in humble circumstances, the remaining resources are "Fuse" for your posterity. Dogen Zenji's words about "Fuse" can be translated like this: "If you offer even one yen and one plant, then that can be the root for happiness in your generation and the next generation."
"You should pray for the happiness of all living things in space, on earth, and in the world, and try hard to gain happiness."
Let's follow the words of Dogen Zenji and review our ways of living once again

The following link has a lot more of Doogen's teachings in English and Japanese.道元禅師からのメッセージ

Crossing over to the coast of the Sea of Japan, Basho continued southwest on his journey to Kanazawa, where he mourned at the grave of a young poet who had died the year before, awaiting Basho's arrival. He continued to Eiheiji, the temple founded by the great Zen priest Dogen. Eventually there was a reunion with several of his disciples, but Basho left them again to travel on to the Grand Shrine of Ise alone.
Here the account of this journey ends.
. . . Safety copy: Matsuo Basho / The man himself

Basho visits the home of Tosai, but the wife tells him her husband is not at home.
Painting by Buson.

Eiheiji is now one of the two [large] training centers for priests and ordained laymen of the Soto Zen sect of Buddhism. The temple is perched on the side of a mountain and surrounded by giant cryptomeria. In winter it is engulfed in 6 or 7 feet of snow. The sun is rarely seen for a whole day at any time of the year; heavy fog and rain drift up from the Japan Sea. The rocks and the black trunks of the cryptomeria are covered with heavy dark green moss and the temple compound is blanketed with this flourishing vegetation. The monks tend it carefully, weeding out small plants and grass.

The Samu (manual labor) of the Eiheiji monk is not a mortification. It is not a disagreeable, but a necessary means to a desirable end. Samu combined with Zazen (meditation in the cross legged position) stimulates an omnipresent WHY which is the center of Zen life.
The answer to this WHY cannot be grasped by logic; it cannot be apprehended through ritual and the Zen master cannot give his disciples the answer.

This is a short quote from a long essay about the subject byElsie Mitchellhttp://www.cuke.com/bibliography/WOE/text.html